Ventilated building structure.



H. R. STRAlGHE', VENTILATED BUlLDiNG STRUCTURE.

APPLlCATlON FiLED DEC; 9.1QI2.

Patented Sept. 21, 1915.

WITNESSES: J41, Wm/M.

LVVENTOR.

JyM/m! 41 B Y A TTORNEY5 "V YA JW L HALVER R. STRAIGHT, OE ABEL, IOWA.

Specification of Letters Extent.

VENTILATED BUILDING STRUCTURE.

Patented. 21,

Application filed December 9, 1912. Serial No. 735,856.

To aZZ vol-0m it may concern:

Be it known that I, Hanvnn R. STRAIGHT, a citizen of theUnited States, and resident of Adel, in the county of Dallas and State of Iowa, have invented a certain new and useful Ventilated Building Structure, of which the following is a. specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a ventilated building structure of" simple, durable and inexpensive construction especially designed for use in connection with the construction of circular buildings such, for instance, as corn cribs, and especially designed to withstand excessive internal pressure.

More specifically, it is my object to provide a ventilated structure ot. this class that may be made of hollow vitrified clay, tile or the like. capable of being formed and produced on an ordinary hollow tile making machine and without hand work.

A further object is to provide a building structure of this class in which both the inner and outer walls of the building are vertical, straight and smooth except for the perforations therein.

A- further object is to provide a building construction of this class in whichthe openings through the blocks, necessary for ventilation purposes, are all inclined at top and bottom. downwardly and outwardly from the interior of the building so that in the event that rain or snow is driven against one side of the building, it will flow down wardly and outwardly toward the exterior of the building, and also to provide for giving a proper direction to the currents of air flowing into the circular building in an upwardly and inwardly inclined direction to assist in such circulation.

A further object is to provide a. building construction of this-character in which suitable binding wires or rods may be placed between each layer of the building blocks and embedded in cement so that when a straight outward pressure is applied to the wall from the interior, these binding wires will tend to crush the layer of cement and bind on top of the building blocks to thereby avoid the shearing strains of the binding wires or rods which ordinarily occur in structures of this kind where the. binding wires or rods are laid between fiat horizontal surfaces of the building blocks.

Myinvention consists in the construction of the building blocks proper andin the arrangement and combination thereof in a circular building with binding wires, layers of cement, etc., as hereinafter more fully set forth, pointed out in my claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 shows a side elevation of a building block of the kind employed in my iinproved ventilated building structure. Fig. 2 shows an inside face View of same. Fig. 8 shows a sectional perspective view of a portion of the permanent base and a part. of the ventilated. building wall embodying my invention supported on the base, and Fig. t shows a top or plan view of'a. long section of hollow tile as it would appearlcoining from a mold or tile "forming machine with the various blocks cut apart on oblique lines to form the building blocks used in my iinproved ventilated building structure.

Refe ring to the accompanying drawings, I have used the reference numeral 10 to indicate a base. preferably a concrete, on WllJ' ll the walls of the building structure are supported. This base is provided with an inclined portion 11 extending downwardly and outwardly, and it is on this inclined port-ion that the wall structure is erected.

The building blocks which form the body of the wall structure are shaped generally oblique and like the ordinain' hollow buildmg tileniow in common use, preferably with one central vertical partition and one central, horizontal partition, thus forming four openings through each block. All of the side walls and partitions are parallel and straight so that the building blocks may be made on. an ordinary building block making machine with the use of ordinary dies. The.

partition is angle on which the ends of the block are out diverges from a right angle from the sides of the block to such an extent that when the blocks are laid on an inclined base 11 and on top of each other, the inner and outer tion, as shown in Fig. 3,'a layer of cement or" plaster 19 isapplied-on the top surface of the blocks and a series of binding wires or rods 20 is embedded in the mortar or plaster. These wires preferably run circularly around the wall and the ends thereof are'permitted to overlap in the plaster or mortar, thus binding the ends together in theplaster or mortar and preventing expansion .of the err:

cular rings of wire or rods-thus formed, .Then the additional layers are placed "on top of the first layerto any extent desired.

Some of the numerous advantages of my.

improved ventilatedbuilding structure are as follows: The blocks. may be made onan destructible. The building, when completed,

ordinary hollow tile making machine by'the use of ordinary dies, and-the ends thereof may be cut obliquely by the use of an ordinary cutting machine having the wires thereof arranged to make oblique cutsin-v stead of cuts at right angles to the sides, thus providinga building .block that ma be constructed at slight expense, and iw, en constructed. of vitrified clay ,,is', practically inwill have both-its inner and outer faces smooth, straight and vertical so that mate-' rial contained within} the building will not become caught on the irregular surfaces of the inner face of the wall and so that wire netting or other material inay be supported on the inner face of the wall conveniently, and easily for the purpose of'preventing' mice etc. from entering the building.

material may be employed to produce a completed wall. i

-' Another advantage is that the wall is provided with numerous rectangular ventilated openings extending from one face of the wallto the other and said openings are inclined from the interior downwardly and outwardly to thereby perform the double function of permitting rain or snow to drain out through theopenings and also of giving a proper direction to incoming air for ventilating purposes, it bein understood in this connectitn that whcnatlduilding of this kind is used for; the piu-poses'ach for instance, as a a corn cr bthe lwat r enerated the cor!" of air inwardly through the passageways through the tile.

A further advantage is that by having the upper and lower surfaces of the blocks in the building inclined downwardly and outwardly, the binding wiresor rods in the layer of cement or mortar will bind uponthe top surfaces of the blocks and thus resist outward pressure upon the walls to a far greater extent'than if the top and bottom surfaces of the blocks were arranged horizontally, as in ordinary buildings of this character, for the reason that a far less outward pressure would: be necessary to cause the wires to shear through the horizontally arrangedlayer of mortar than would be the case in my' fievice where in order for the wall to spread it would be necessary for; the w-ires'to apply a crushing strain to the layer I .of' mantar and also to the tops of the build- "ingblocks before the wall could spread, and

in a light structure of this character that is designed to contain a large quantity of material that effects a heavy outward thrust upon the walls, this is a very important and valuable consideration.

I claim as my invention:

A substantially circular ventilated building structure, formed of hollow blocks, the: tops and bottoms thereof being parallel and of uniform thickness and the sides also being parallel and of uniform thickness, whereby said blocks are adapted to be made on a tile making machine, the ends of said blocks being parallel with each other but formed at such angles relative to the tops and bottoms, that when the ends are upright the tops andbottomswill incline downwardly, said bloc A further advantage is that a minimum of smoothi ertical surfaces or walls and the tops arid bottoms of the blocks inclining downwardly and outwardly, layers of material, such as cement, between the rows of blocks and binding wires or rods being arranged to co-act with the inclined tops and bottoms of the blocks to prevent the wires or'. rods from shearing out the cement on account of internal pressure.

Des Moines, Iowa, November '26, 1912.

HALVER R. STRAIGHT.

Vitnesses M. WALLACE, Ti. ROBINSON.

-' would tend to rise and cause a circulation 

